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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes moved back into a Western Conference playoff spot with another big win against a top-shelf team.
With 10 members of the 1980 United States "Miracle on Ice" team among a regular season-record crowd of 17,525 fans at Jobing.com Arena, Keith Yandle and Radim Vrbata scored power-play goals and Mike Smith made 29 saves for his 26th career shutout in a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Smith has three career shutouts against the Blackhawks, who were blanked for the first time in 126 regular-season games dating back to 2011-12.
The win gave Phoenix (27-20-10) 64 points and moved them past the slumping Vancouver Canucks into the second wild-card playoff berth in the West -- the first time they've held a playoff spot since Jan. 7. Corey Crawford made 24 saves for the Blackhawks (35-11-14), who reached the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics with 84 points and went 3-1-2 while playing their last six games away from home. They return to action with a road game against the New York Rangers on Feb. 27 before hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field on March 1 in the final game of the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series.
Phoenix won despite playing with five defensemen after Derek Morris left the game with an upper body injury in the first period. But the Coyotes are seeing signs of a revival from Smith, who has struggled for three months but has stopped 89 of 92 shots in his last three games.
The Coyotes closed five-game homestand with a 3-2-0 that saw them beat three playoff teams that are a combined 58 games over .500 (Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago) while losing to two non-playoff teams that are a combined 14 games under. 500 (Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars).
The Coyotes have a power-play goal in 13 of their past 16 games. But they hadn't had two in the same game since Vrbata and Antoine Vermette scored in a 4-3 overtime win on Dec. 21 against the Ottawa Senators
Chicago picked up the first of two first-period penalties when Brandon Bollig was called for tripping Phoenix's Shane Doan 1:01 into the game, and Coyotes needed only nine seconds to capitalize.
Vermette won the faceoff back to Mikkel Boedker, who fed Yandle at the point. With Doan providing a screen, Yandle unleashed a shot that beat Crawford to the far post for his seventh goal of the season. Vermette's assist extended his points streak to a career-best nine games.
The Blackhawks were held to seven shots in the period, but Smith had to be sharp on several of them. He made a big save on Kris Versteeg with six minutes left and stopped Brandon Saad with his glove and Duncan Keith with his pad late period.
Each team had 14 shots in the second period, but Chicago penalties were the difference again.
At 17:46, Saad charged toward the Phoenix net with the puck and barreled over Smith, who went sprawling into his net. Saad was called for goalie interference, and as the Blackhawks protested the call, Michal Rozsival was called for unsportsmanlike conduct to give Phoenix a 5-on-3 advantage.
It took 42 seconds for Mike Ribeiro to set up Vrbata between the circles for a hard wrist shot that beat Crawford between the pads. Vrbata's 14th goal gave the Coyotes some breathing room, but Smith didn't need it.
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